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Barbecue Chicken Salad {Paleo + Whole30 Compliant}

You definitely don’t have to sacrifice taste to make something healthy with this Barbecue Chicken Salad recipe. It is packed with big bold flavors and you might not even guess it is whole30 compliant, paleo, gluten free, dairy free, and low carb! This makes the perfect lunch or summer dish whether you are following a special diet or just want something delicious.

If you are a regular around here and haven’t figured out that I have a slight obsession with chicken salad then this recipe should make it totally obvious. I mean really… what’s not to love? It is cool, creamy, flavorful, and full of great textures. It is light enough so you don’t feel that too full feeling after eating it, but packed with protein and will keep you full throughout the day.

Probably the best part though is that chicken salad can be made so many different ways, and so many different flavors but still jives with all sorts of diet plans. So basically you can eat an absolutely amazing meal and not even feel like you ate “diet food.” And that my friends, is exactly the kind of diet food I am okay with. Not diet tasting diet food that is. Got it?

So when I did the Whole 30 diet last year I got really into making my own spice mixes. I found that most of the prepackaged ones contained something or another that wasn’t approved for the diet so I just decided that the best way to go was to reinvent them so I knew they were totally on the up and up for what I needed. Barbecue was one of the biggest challenges because by nature most barbecue sauces have quite a bit of sugar in them which is of course a no-no on this plan. But after some tinkering in the kitchen I came up with this dry barbecue seasoning that I really loved. (Like really loved.)

This Whole 30 BBQ seasoning is the key to making this chicken salad Whole 30 compliant, so if you are following the Whole30 diet, make sure you whip up a batch. If you aren’t on a special diet then feel free to sub your favorite Barbecue sauce in the recipe, although you might just want to try this one anyway because it really is that good and as a bonus, totally guilt free!

For the chicken you can use any kind you want, although, the taste and flavor of the chicken salad will be directly related to the quality that you use, so go with something good if you can! My favorite easy go to is leftover rotisserie chicken. At my Costco they also sell rotisserie chicken breast already pulled in a package which is also good.

I add red pepper, yellow pepper, onion and cilantro to this for the veggies. You can take some leeway here to add or substitute other favorite veggies you love. I always try to add a pretty high ratio of veggies in my chicken salad because they have great texture and really lower the calories per serving and since the mayo is pretty calorie rich, it helps balance it all out. If you wanted add more veggies, you could add finely chopped celery for a great bit of crunch.

As far as the mayo goes, if you are following the Whole30 diet, then you will need to make your own. That sounds crazy, but it is actually surprisingly easy and extra delicious homemade. I follow this fool-proof recipe for homemade mayo here. If you aren’t Whole 30, then go ahead and use homemade or store bought. Any of them will work in this recipe.

Last note about the ingredients is on the cilantro. I know some people hate cilantro, so if you are one of those people then go ahead and leave it out. I don’t think that this recipe will magically make you love it, but I will say that cilantro is a pretty awesome compliment to the barbecue flavor. So if you don’t hate it, then don’t you dare take a short cut and leave it out. It really makes the dish something special!

So grab a big bowl. This makes quite a bit, but is so delicious it gets eaten pretty fast around here. Dump in your chicken and veggies. Then in a smaller bowl, mix the mayo with the seasoning then dump it on top of the chicken and veggies and stir it in well until everything is coated.

You can dig right in, but it is even better if you can throw it in the fridge for a couple of hours and let all of those gorgeous, bold flavors really combine together. It is so hard to wait, but it is worth it!

This keeps in the fridge for about a week, so you can use it for easy week day lunches or prepare it ahead of time for a brunch, or potluck.

As always, I hope you love it as much as we did! If you try it, it would make my day if you let me know what you thought in the comments!

Hi Kimber! I’m new to your site and so glad I found it- my husband and I are 18 days into the Whole 30 diet and I had to leave a comment as we LOVED this recipe! I made the seasoning ahead of time (which I can’t wait to use it on other meals since there’s a bunch leftover)! The BBQ Chicken salad is SO good and has a nice little kick too! I didn’t do a great job at measuring how much chicken I had (so if you’re like me) I’d just suggest adding a little of the seasoning at a time until you have the amount of season you want! I can’t wait to try your buffalo chicken salad recipe. THANK YOU for this recipe – it’s nice having meals on a diet that are delicious and that we’ll definitely continue to use after the 30! =)